. >> i want to bring in ruth marcus, columnist at "the washington post" and perry bacon, an msnbc contributor. what's your sense of this? are we setting up for a feisty but doable deal? but is it also possible we're in for a battle of epic proportions? >> yes to both questions. i think feisty is a great word. i think it is doable. whether that means it's going to get done is another question. and speaker boehner is in a delicate position. he would like to e get something done, but he's got an unruly boisterous caucus to be managing. >> i heard from a senator that he's going to need to bring in eric cantor somehow. he's going to have to enlist him if it's going to get done. we did get the preview yesterday. what's the president's strategy going to be? does he need to set an agenda for how to move forward? >> he's going to speak in generalities. he's not going to lay out a detailed, here's what i want to do five-point plan. i think that's smart. the best approach is to work this through congress with the white house being involved as well. take it as a patient process. >> let me play a little m